


Hurk and Sharky's Pharmaceutical Adventure

by INMH



Series: hc_bingo fanfiction fills 2019 [6]
Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: (a building gets blown up because thats how these two roll), Explosions, F/M, Fire, Friendship, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Pneumonia, Romance, Strong Language, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-16 19:17:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19324420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INMH/pseuds/INMH
Summary: Jess falls ill, and it’s up to Sharky and Hurk to retrieve some medicine for her.May God have mercy on the souls of everyone in their path.(And, you know, everyone else in a ten-mile radius.)





	Hurk and Sharky's Pharmaceutical Adventure

The coughing woke Sharky out of a dead sleep.  
  
Now that the county had been overtaken by psycho-cultists, everyone was bitching about how hard it was to sleep, what with all the explosions and the gunfire and the snipers hiding in the trees.  
  
Frankly? That was some hot bullshit.  
  
Sharky had never slept better.  
  
(Except, of course, when someone was coughing real loud.)  
  
Sharky pulled his baseball cap off his face and stretched out his arms. He and Hurk had shacked up in the Linero Building Supplies compound for the night, since Hurk Sr. had gotten a little trigger-happy on anyone who rolled up on his house after dark; Sharky was sleeping on top of a train-car, and Hurk was snoring away inside of it, limbs hanging out of the open door. It was nearly morning: The birds were singing, the sky was starting to show some streaks of color, and-  
  
Another round of coughing started, and Sharky frowned. “Who the fuck is that?”  
  
The response came in the form of an arrow pinging off the train-car, and another round of intense hacking.  
  
Sharky hopped down from the roof of the train-car and peered into the early-morning darkness. “Hey, Jessie, that you?”  
  
Wheezing, still occasionally huffing out a cough, Jess Black emerged from behind an abandoned truck, bow held limply in her hand. “Fuck’s sake, stop calling me Jessie, assho-” She coughed again- deep, rattling coughs that sounded _real_ painful, the kind that Sharky had sometimes when he inhaled too much smoke.  
  
“Shit,” Sharky said, warily edging closer. Jess was a real temperamental woman, the kind that would stab out of spite (Sharky wasn’t complaining, he actually thought it was kinda hot, but it was still something to be careful about). “You alright, Jess?”  
  
Her response was to fall to her hands and knees, retching. She’d gone and coughed so hard that she was ready to puke.  
  
“Hey, man, what’s with all the coughing? You went and found yourself some ganja again?” Hurk called. Sharky watched as he rolled out of the train-car, hitting the ground with an audible ‘ _thump_ ’ before climbing to his feet and hiking over. “Aw man, Jessie! Hey girl, how you been?”  
  
Jess fixed Hurk with a flat look. “Shitty,” She croaked.  
  
“Guess I shoulda guessed that, I mean I don’t wanna offend you or nothing but you don’t look so hot, Jessie- I mean you’re _hot_ , because, y’know, you are, but you don’t _look_ so hot, like you look sick.”  
  
Jess’s eyes rolled shut. “Fuck’s sake,” She whispered.  
  
Sharky knelt down beside her. “Your lungs are sounding real bad, Jess. Think maybe you need to lie down for a while. Come on with us, yeah?”  
  
Jess shook her head, defeated. “Can’t. Can’t move.”  
  
Sharky hesitated. “Uh… So… If I were to pick you up and carry you, you promise not to- I don’t know- stab me or nothing?”  
  
Jess shook her head. “I won’t.” Sharky wasn’t sure he’d ever had a conversation with Jess that had ever gone this long without her grumbling at him or calling him an idiot. But hey, nowhere to go but up, right? Sharky carefully hooked one arm under Jess’s knees and looped the other around her back, lifting her up-  
  
Huh. Jess was lighter than she should’ve been.  
  
Sharky wouldn’t say that to her- Auntie Adelaide said age and weight were two things you didn’t ask a woman about- but it was a little alarming. Jess was pretty tall, and athletic from all the time she spent running around in the woods, and she _should_ have been heavier than she was right now just because of how human bodies worked. Maybe she’d been sick for a while and just hadn’t taken care of herself.  
  
(Yeah, that sounded like Jess.)  
  
[---]  
  
Since it was only a short walk away, they brought Jess to Fort Drubman.  
  
“Fuck my tits and call me Sally, you’d better not have gotten that girl pregnant, Junior!” Hurk Sr. barked from the porch as they approached.  
  
“Naw, daddy, Jessie’s sick! Imma just leave her here while Sharky and I go and get some meds for her!”  
  
“I ain’t taking care of her!”  
  
“You don’t have to do nothing, daddy, we’ll be back soon enough!”  
  
The house was pretty big- Hurk Sr. and Adelaide had done pretty well for themselves, especially before the divorce- and Hurk motioned for Sharky to follow him upstairs. “I’d put her in my room but daddy’s been real steamed at me since the Nancy incident, and so, like, he hasn’t been letting me sleep inside,” Hurk rambled as they climbed to the second floor, “I haven’t had a chance to clean nothing, and I never let a girl sleep in my room ‘less it’s presentable and whatnot.”  
  
“Yeah, that’s a good policy.” Sharky wouldn’t have been too hyped to leave Jess in Hurk’s room anyway. Would’ve been weird.  
  
The spare room was nice enough: Clean and uncluttered, hooked up to the bathroom even. Sharky set Jess down on the edge of the bed and Hurk bustled around the room, opening drawers and boxes. “Still got some of mama’s clothes here, and some from a couple of daddy’s girlfriends, so if you wanna take a shower or something and wash your clothes I got some right here you can change into.”  
  
“Thanks,” Jess rasped. Now that the sun was up and he could see her better, Sharky could tell that she looked even worse than he’d originally thought: She was pale, shaking, and her eyes were unfocused. She looked nothing like the pissy hunter he knew and occasionally had wet-dreams of.  
  
(Not that he was gonna tell her that.  
  
That was another thing Auntie Adelaide said you don’t tell a woman about.  
  
Not unless you know she likes you back, and Sharky was pretty sure that Jess didn’t.)  
  
Jess was struggling to take in a deep breath as she removed her shoes and jacket. “You want a hand?” Sharky asked.  
  
She shook her head.  
  
“Okay.” He fidgeted for a second; Jess had always had that sort of effect on him, where he didn’t know what to say to her. “Hurk and I, we’re gonna go see if we can’t find some meds or something for you. See if we can’t fix that cough.”  
  
“Thanks.” Sharky went to step away, but Jess’s hand came up to pat his arm. “Thanks,” She repeated.  
  
“It’s cool, Jess. You get some sleep.”  
  
He went back downstairs. Hurk was sitting at the kitchen table, whistling merrily and wiping down his rocket-launcher. “Little cousin, we doin’ this? ‘Cause I’m ready to go a-hunting if you are.”  
  
“Sure, man. Gotta get something for Jess or she’ll cough her damn lungs up.” Sharky frowned. “Not sure where we should start, though.”  
  
Hurk laughed. “Aw, don’t you worry about that, I know where to go.”  
  
[---]  
  
Aaron ‘Tweak’ Kirby had been popping up in various places around the Henbane ever since the cult had taken over, babbling about how homeopathics were the way to defeat the cult and make everyone into super-humans. He could be found, on a given day, scrounging in the garbage cans behind Aubrey’s Diner, or hanging around Prosperity ninja-kicking mannequins.  
  
Not that that was too different from what he did on a normal day in Hope County, to be honest.  
  
“You remember that time he was high on somethin’ or other and got buck-naked and went streaking through Testy Festy? Remember how it took both deputies _and_ Whitehorse to take him down?” Sharky asked as they hustled towards the diner.  
  
“Shit man, yeah, I remember it! Deputy Hudson was wearing some really tight jeans that night, and she was looking _fine_.”  
  
“I don’t think she’s interested in you, Hurk.”  
  
“A man can dream, can’t he?”  
  
They got lucky: Tweak was rustling around behind the diner like some big ol’ raccoon. What he was looking for, Sharky couldn’t even guess: He partook of certain drugs- mainly the green, leafy kind- on occasion, but Tweak was known for a wider (and harder) variety of drugs than that. At least he didn’t look high now.  
  
“Hey, Tweak!” Sharky called. “You’re a druggie, right?”  
  
Tweak eyed them warily. “Who’s asking?”  
  
“The King ‘a Fucking Sheba!” Sharky barked. “Geez, Tweak, you think I’m gonna narc on you or something? That was a rhetorical question meant to break the ice. I know you know drugs, and I need some.”  
  
Tweak raised an eyebrow at them. “What kind?”  
  
“Anything that can help with a really bad cough.”  
  
Tweak rolled his eyes. “I don’t deal in that weak shit,” he groaned. “That’s not my _game_ , man. My homeopathics increase the bounds of the human experience, and that shit just tries to bring it all back to zero! Open your _minds_! I got bigger fish to fry!”  
  
Hurk and Sharky stared at him, blinking.  
  
“…So, like, do you have anything for a cough, or no?” Hurk asked.  
  
Tweak pointed past them insistently. “Go to the pharmacy for that stuff. I’ve got nothing for you here. Come back when you’re ready to blow your minds.” He turned and stomped back to the garbage cans.  
  
“Weird little tweaker,” Sharky grunted as he and Hurk turned back towards the road. “Didn’t understand half that nonsense.”  
  
“I dunno, Sharky, I sense an old soul in him. Like, a wise old caveman soul that never detached from its original body after bein’ stomped on by a mammoth, or something.”  
  
Sharky looked at Hurk oddly. “You been hitting something too, Hurk?”  
  
“Naw, man, this is all me. Let’s go get those pills.”  
  
[---]  
  
“A’right man, we’re coming up on the pharmacy, keep an eye out for Peggies.”  
  
“Will do, bro.”  
  
As it happened, there _were_ Peggies outside the pharmacy. They heard them before they saw them, which made Sharky think that they were planning some sort of ambush: They were set up around and inside the cargo-space of an eighteen-wheeler that had been vandalized with the Eden’s Gate cross. Guess there were worse places to stake out than a place lots of people in Hope County had to go for their medications. “Looks like we got a few.”  
  
Hurk squinted. “Aw yeah, they’re all stuck up behind that eighteen-wheeler! Probably thinkin’ they were gonna get the drop on us, like one ‘a them trap-door spiders that live in the desert! Little bugs and shit just tramping along and then _BAM!_ You’re on the business-end of a really creepy spider. I mean all spiders are pretty creepy, but the ones that go and hide like that are almost, like, those freaks who hide in the backs of vans and lure kids in with candy and shit.”  
  
Hurk’s voice had gone from conversation-level to a loud whisper as they’d crept up to the building. He’d always had a talent for doing these ‘speak literally every word that comes to mind’ sessions without missing a step, so Sharky didn’t bother to shut him up when they got closer. “Why don’t you just blow ‘em to hell?” He suggested. “Looks like that truck’ll go up real good.”  
  
Hurk grinned wickedly. “Hell yes it will!” He hefted the rocket-launcher on his shoulder and took aim. “ _Bye-bye, motherfuckers!_ ”  
  
“Sinners! The Father will- _OH SHIT!_ ”  
  
**BOOM.**  
  
Yeah, the truck went up _real_ nice.  
  
The Peggies did too.  
  
“WHOO! That’s a fine way to start a day!” Hurk and Sharky fist-bumped, and then started towards the pharmacy with a purpose.  
  
And then, from the smoke of the decimated truck, a final Peggie emerged.  
  
Sharky and Hurk slowed to a stop as he stepped forward, mostly because his appearance threw them off a bit: He had a black hood on, kind of like an old-style executioner, and he was dressed all in leather.  
  
But in his hands…  
  
…His _hands…_  
  
“Son of a _bitch_ , flamethrowers are _my_ thing!” Sharky squawked, momentarily distracted from the mission of retrieving the meds.  
  
“FIRE- **FIGHT**! FIRE- **FIGHT**!” Hurk hooted.  
  
The Peggie looked between Hurk and Sharky, and then proceeded to raise his flamethrower in challenge.  
  
Sharky grinned, throwing his fists into the air. “Awwww yeah! We got a fucking Peggie who wants to party!”  
  
The Peggie set his flamethrower off, spraying flames into the air.  
  
Sharky returned the gesture, and was pleased to see that his flamethrower had a wider spray and longer range than the Peggie’s.  
  
“READY! SET! **FIGHT!** ” Hurk bellowed.  
  
Sharky and the Peggie set their flamethrowers off, spraying fire everywhere. Sharky moved constantly to avoid being set alight, moving so that the Peggie was between him and the pharmacy. That was a problem- they’d have to get past him to get inside.  
  
_Eh, guess I’ll just have to kill him._  
  
The fire began to spread, carried on debris and tufts of grass cropped up in the cracks of the pavement. Sharky had to back away, and it got to a point where he and the Peggie were separated by a sea of flames.  
  
“Aw, shit, it’s spreading to the building!” Hurk called as the Peggie backed into the pharmacy, trying to put some distance between himself and the fire. “It’ll burn up the medicine!”  
  
“It’s fine, I’ll try to run in and see if they have a-”  
  
**_BOOOOM!_**  
  
“…fire-extinguisher.”  
  
[---]  
  
So, the pharmacy was gone.  
  
Apparently having a flame-thrower battle next to a building with a gas-tank attached to it was a bad idea.  
  
So now Hurk and Sharky were trudging down the road towards Holland Valley, hoping to make it to the clinic by noon. Sharky had to figure that they had meds there as well- at least, so long as the Peggies hadn’t raided it already.  
  
…Which they wouldn’t have had to worry about if he hadn’t blown up the pharmacy.  
  
“Man, little cousin, you’ve been real _low_ today. Usually you’re more fun than this.”  
  
“Damn, Hurk, was me blowing up a pharmacy not enough for you?”  
  
“Naw, man, that was awesome! But _you_ don’t seem super excited about it, and I just wanna know what the deal is?”  
  
Sharky sniffed. “I dunno, man, I guess I’m just kinda worried about Jess. Takes a lot to knock her off her feet, you know? Like, normally if I tried to pick her up and carry her anywhere she’d stab me before I could even get my hands on her, and earlier she just let me do it without a problem. Didn’t even call me ‘dumbass’ or ‘mouth-breather’ the way she usually does when I say hi to her.”  
  
“Well heck Sharky, I didn’t realize you were so torn up about it! You carrying a torch for Jessie or something?”  
  
Sharky squirmed a little, the straps for the flamethrower slipping on his shoulders. “I dunno; I mean, she’s definitely hot, but I don’t really get the impression that it’s reciprocated, so I kinda figure there’s no point in wasting my time.” He paused. “Also, ol’ Dutch Roosevelt’s her uncle, and I kinda got the feeling that he doesn’t like me so much. Actually, I think he mighta been the one that called me a mouth-breather, not Jess- yeah, no, it was after I set his garage on fire.”  
  
“Sharky, my man, my little cousin, you gotta be more _confident._ Women do _not_ like men who just toddle off like babies when they get given a little attitude! God knows my mama wouldn’t be with that tool Xander if he couldn’t put up with some piss ‘n vinegar every now and then!”  
  
Well, that made sense: Aunt Addie was a treasure, and she wasn’t always super sweet to Xander.  
  
“Be _sides_ , Jess don’t even know you that well! She’s always up in the forest doing her Goddess of the Hunt thing, and lord _knows_ you don’t spend much time in the woods anymore.”  
  
“I’m not allowed to: Deputy Pratt said he’d drag me to the Marshal’s office himself if I started another forest fire.”  
  
“My point _is_ ,” Hurk pushed, “You gotta get into her _world_ , see what she’s into and play to _that_. Now, what is it Jessie likes?”  
  
A beat. “Killing Peggies.”  
  
“Well there you go! You done killed a bunch ‘a those sons of bitches today! That’ll be a real rock-breaker the next time you two talk,” Hurk congratulated.  
  
“Don’t you mean ‘ice-breaker’?”  
  
“Naw.”  
  
By this point, they had arrived at the clinic. Sharky was relieved to see some normal folks and some of the Resistance milling around, guarding the place and whatnot. When they stepped inside, he got the attention of the first staff member he saw. “Hey, yo, Doctor Kashuv!”  
  
Doctor Kashuv turned, spotted Sharky, and her eyes rolled shut. “Charlemagne Boshaw, I swear if you’ve gone and done some drunken stunt _again_ -”  
  
“No, no, no,” Sharky assured quickly, “Nothing like that. We just need meds.”  
  
Kashuv frowned. “What for?”  
  
“Jessie’s sick,” Hurk offered.  
  
“Jessie who?”  
  
“Jess Black.”  
  
“What’s wrong with her?”  
  
“She’s coughing real deep and bad, and she’s having some trouble breathing.”  
  
Kashuv sighed, shaking her head. “I can’t just give you a handful of pills and hope they work,” She explained. “You have to bring her here so I can formally diagnose her and make sure I’m giving her the right kind of medication. Otherwise it might make things worse for her.”  
  
Sharky’s heart sank. He hadn’t even thought of that, and it made perfect sense. Doctors didn’t just hand out pills because you said you were sick: He’d tried that gambit when he was a teenager and they’d cottoned on _real_ quick that he was just planning on snorting what they gave him.  
  
(Then they’d had to explain that snorting antibiotics was a bad idea because yadda yadda yadda, Sharky stopped listening around ‘antibiotics won’t get you high’.)  
  
“Hey, doc!” Nick Rye came bursting through the door, panting. He didn’t even seem to notice Sharky and Hurk- probably because he looked to be in a real panic. “Carmina didn’t sleep all last night and the rash she’s got on her arm isn’t going away and I wasn’t sure if-”  
  
“ _Nick._ ” Kashuv held up a hand. “Does she have a fever?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Is she eating?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Is she alert? Moving her arms and legs, turning her head, all that?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Is she breathing normally?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Then she’s probably fine. Fever, vomiting, unwillingness to eat, strained breathing, and lack of vitality are the big warning signs. Calm down.” Kashuv turned back to Sharky and Hurk. “As for you two, the best thing you can do for Jess is to bring her here. I can’t do anything for her until I see her for myself.”  
  
Hurk sighed. “Well dang it, I wish we’d thought ‘a that before we went and hiked all the way here!”  
  
Nick, who hadn’t left yet, sighed. “God damn it, Hurk.”  
  
[---]  
  
“You’re a real solid guy for givin’ us a ride, Nick, really good to have fast travel and reliable backup with these damn Peggies everywhere!”  
  
“Yeah, no problem,” Nick said, though Sharky caught a bit of sarcasm in it. “Still not sure why you didn’t just bring Jess to the clinic in the first place, same as you would have if the county _weren’t_ crawling with Peggies.”  
  
“Come on,” Sharky said. “You know Jess, she doesn’t like that shit.”  
  
“Yeah, well, when she’s gotten to the point where you’ve gotta _carry_ her somewhere she kinda loses a vote.”  
  
“D’aw, Sharky ain’t gonna do that, he’s all hot and bothered over Jess and don’t want to piss her off none.”  
  
“ _Hurk!_ ” Sharky hissed.  
  
“I’m just sayin’!”  
  
Nick glanced briefly at Sharky over his shoulder, eyebrows arched in surprise. “Well, that’s… Interesting. But whatever, I’m just saying in situations like this, it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission. She’ll thank you later when she’s not dead.”  
  
“Kinda wish we’d thought of that before the pharmacy went and got blown up,” Sharky muttered.  
  
Nick’s head whipped back towards him. “ _What?_ ”  
  
“Damn it, Sharky!”  
  
“Oops.”  
  
“The _fuck_ did you two do?!”  
  
“Okay, okay, calm down,” Hurk drawled, “Sharky didn’t blow nothing up on _purpose_ -”  
  
Nick groaned and covered his eyes.  
  
“-he went and got into an epic fire-battle with one ‘a them flamethrower dudes the cult’s got, and I mean, you know how fire is, Nicholas! It just goes where it wants, and if it wants to spread to a gas tank attached to a pharmacy-”  
  
“ _Stop._ Stop. The less I know, the better.”  
  
“Yeah, that’s probably for the best.”  
  
[---]  
  
“Aw fuck, and here I thought I was free of you lunatics!”  
  
“Afternoon Mr. Drubman,” Nick greeted dully as they bypassed Hurk Sr. and entered the house.  
  
Jess was asleep when they walked into the room. She’d showered and changed her clothes and was probably cleaner than Sharky (or anyone aside from her immediate family) had ever seen her. Sharky honestly meant to walk up quietly, give her a little shake and wake her up real gentle-like on account of how awful she must have been feeling-  
  
“Hey Jessie! We gotta take you to the doctor!” Hurk boomed, slamming the door behind him for no apparent reason.  
  
“Jesus Christ, Hurk!” Nick hissed.  
  
Jess jerked awake, head whipping back and forth like she was expecting an attack. Sharky knelt down a foot or so beside the bed, inching closer only when he didn’t see her pull a knife. “Yo, Jess, so, uh… Change of plans. We gotta take you to the doctor.”  
  
Jess blinked weakly. “No.”  
  
“They won’t give us meds for you. Doctor Kashuv says she’s gotta see you in person so she can tell what’s wrong with you, or she won’t know what to give you.”  
  
She stared at him for a moment. “Fuck.” Jess then embarked on a serious coughing fit, one that damn near made her seize on the bed.  
  
“Sharky,” Nick said in a low voice, like he thought Jess wouldn’t hear. “Remember what I said about asking forgiveness versus permission?”  
  
“Fuck off, Rye.”  
  
“Don’t get snippy, Jess. These boys may be idiots, but they jumped through hoops for you today and they’re prepared to jump through another. Don’t get difficult on them when they’re only trying to help.”  
  
Jess sniffed. “Guess I should be grateful for that, at least,” She grunted after a time.  
  
“I should think so: Especially since this dumbass over here apparently blew up a pharmacy for you.”  
  
Jess gave Sharky an odd look.  
  
Sharky cleared his throat. “Uh, well, I mean, it was _totally_ an accident, but those kinda accidents are inevitable when you’re having a flamethrower duel.”  
  
Jess groaned, rolled her eyes shut and let her head drop to the pillow again. “Dear fuckin’ God. I don’t even want to know.”  
  
Sharky took a deep breath- he couldn’t dismiss the possibility that Jess had something other than a knife on her, like a toothbrush sharpened into a shiv or something- and then carefully reached out and gave Jess’s arm a tug. “Come on, we gotta go.” Jess’s eyes flickered open again. And then, with great effort, she tried to stand up, but her knees buckled and Sharky barely managed to catch her before she could fall on her face. “Whoa, Jessie! I got you, you’re good.” He did as he’d done that morning and hooked one arm under her knees, and his other around her back. “It’s all good. I got you.”  
  
Jess didn’t respond.  
  
That was worrisome: Right now, Sharky would’ve been happy to hear a ‘fuck off, Sharky’ from her.  
  
He followed Hurk and Nick down to the truck, Jess’s head resting on his collarbone. Sharky kinda regretted having to set her down in the truck’s bench-seat, but he made a point of climbing in beside her and letting her lean up against him. “Alright, let’s head on back.”  
  
“Yeah,” Nick said, adjusting his mirrors. “Just keep your guns hot, okay? Still way too many Peggies wandering around.”  
  
“Don’t you worry, Nicholas,” Hurk assured him. “We didn’t see any on the way here. I’m sure they’ve all gone and fucked off for now.”  
  
[---]  
  
“ _Shit! Shit! Shit!_ ”  
  
Nick swerved hard, and Sharky damn near crushed Jess into the seat when he fell against her.  
  
“Nick, my dude, you gotta drive straight!” Hurk called as he fumbled with his gun.  
  
“Shut the fuck up, Hurk! Both those trucks have machine-guns attached to them, and swerving’s the only way to stop us from getting blown out!”  
  
As if on cue, rapid machine-gun fire began- the back window of the truck shattered, and now Sharky deliberately pressed Jess against the seat. She’d been coughing non-stop since the attack began, unable to catch her breath as they were thrown every which way in the back seat.  
  
“Everyone alright?” Nick asked when the shots stopped.  
  
“Alive!” Sharky said. “So’s Jess, but she’s not looking so good, Nick, so maybe hightail it to the clinic ASAP?”  
  
Nick growled and slapped the steering-wheel. “Well I’d prefer not to _do_ that, I really don’t want to lead them right to a reclaimed area, but I guess we don’t have much of a choice.” He pressed down on the gas, and they rocketed towards the clinic. The trucks continued their pursuit, and Hurk managed to get a few shots off at them.  
  
“Missed! Missed! Missed! Miss- GOT ‘EM! Oh, that’s gotta hurt, man, they went right into a tree!”  
  
“What about the other one, Hurk?” Nick asked urgently.  
  
“I think the other truck crashing sent ‘em into a bit of a spin, because they’ve fallen pretty far behind- they’re still comin’, though! Cold bastards ain’t even stopping to check on their buddies!”  
  
“Yeah, welcome to _fuckin’_ Eden’s Gate. _HOLY-_ ” The truck did a hard turn.  
  
_BOOM._  
  
“They have an RPG! I repeat, they have a _fucking_ RPG!” Nick barked. “Hurk, Sharky, you guys wanna do something about that before we all die?!”  
  
“I’m working on it!” Hurk said, loading up his gun. “All the firepower in the world can’t beat a good shot!” He leaned out the window and started shooting again. “Missed! Missed! Missed! Missed!”  
  
“We’re gonna die,” Nick moaned. “We’re all gonna fucking _die._ ”  
  
“Not to worry, not to worry, I still got some explosives that’ll knock their shit in good and proper!”  
  
“Hurk Drubman, if you do something stupid and blow us up and my daughter goes without a daddy I swear to _fuckin’_ God I will spend my afterlife making yours a _living hell!_ ”  
  
Sharky straightened up a little in the back, brushing some glass shards off of Jess’s sweatshirt. “You alright? Didn’t get cut or nothing?”  
  
“Dunno. Don’t think so,” Jess wheezed, trying to rise from the seat and then deciding to just stay down. “Shit.”  
  
“Not doing so good?”  
  
“No.”  
  
Sharky patted her back. “It’s alright, I’m pretty sure we’re almost-”  
  
**_BOOOOM._**  
  
**_KRSSH._**  
  
“ _BOOM!_ BLEW THEM SKY-HIGH!” Hurk cheered. “Alright, alright! Off we go to the clinic! Getting’ Jessie some meds and killing Peggies: All in all a _real_ productive day!”  
  
Nick’s face was visible in the rearview mirror, and Sharky could see a thousand-yard stare in his eyes.  
  
“Yeah, Hurk, real productive.”  
  
[---]  
  
By the time they pulled up to the clinic, Nick’s truck was on its last legs.  
  
“There are plenty lying around, Nicholas, just go ahead and commandeer one from the Eden’s Gate people! Reap their shit the way they reaped ours!”  
  
“I may have to,” Nick grumbled. “Gonna be a fuck of a conversation with the insurance company when all this is done.”  
  
“I mean, we’re _all_ gonna be having those conversations.”  
  
Once they’d rumbled to a stop, Sharky got out first and helped Jess out after. “Need me to get you, or you think you can walk?”  
  
Jess swayed a little once she was on her feet, and had to steady herself on Sharky’s shoulder. “Think I can walk,” She rasped.  
  
Sharky opened his mouth to ask- and then decided against it, instead wordlessly offering his arm for her to hang onto as she walked. Jess didn’t hesitate or say a word: She used him to keep herself steady as they headed up the driveway.  
  
“You guys go on ahead, Imma wait out here and restock on ammo!” Hurk called.  
  
“And _I_ ,” Nick said, voice slightly high-pitched, “am going home. I am going home to my wife and baby, and I am going to get shit-faced drunk. Get well soon, Jess; Sharky and Hurk, you dumb motherfuckers better not blow up this clinic.”  
  
Hurk shrugged. “I don’t see any Peggies lookin’ for a flamethrower throw-down, Nicholas, so that shouldn’t be a problem!”  
  
Nick rolled his eyes and walked back to his truck.  
  
[---]  
  
They stayed at the clinic that night.  
  
Hurk went and found a truck-bed to pass out in, snoring loud enough to bring every Peggie in the county running.  
  
Sharky nodded off a couple of times in the chair he’d pulled up beside Jess’s bed (really it was more of an examination table; this place wasn’t built for long-term care) but couldn’t sleep properly on account of how easy it was to fall out of his chair- and also because Jess would go into violent coughing fits throughout the night.  
  
“You don’t have to stay,” She mumbled after one that made her cough up a little blood. “I don’t need you to.”  
  
“Yeah, I know, I just figured there’s no point in heading back to the Henbane at night without a truck, ‘specially with Hurk half in the bag and carrying a rocket launcher.”  
  
Jess frowned. “The hell did he get drunk on? They don’t look like they’re storing much here.”  
  
“I think he found the rubbing alcohol and decided to have an adventure. Not me, though: I only had to make that mistake two times as a kid to know it doesn’t work like regular alcohol.”  
  
Jess’s eyes rolled shut. “Fuck’s sake.”  
  
“Tasted awful.”  
  
“No shit.” A beat. “Did you really blow up the pharmacy?”  
  
“Uh, yeah, that’s a hard ‘yeah’. _Didn’t_ realize the fire was spreading so close to the building, and didn’t realize there was a gas-tank next to it. Really sorry about that, mighta been able to get something to you without having to drag you all this way if I hadn’t decided to do a fire-rumble with a Peggie.”  
  
Jess sighed, coughed, and then shook her head. “It’s fine.” She paused. “Thanks,” She continued awkwardly. “For- you know. You didn’t have to.”  
  
“Couldn’t just leave you to hack your brains out in the middle of the forest.”  
  
“Yeah, well- still. You didn’t have to do anything.”  
  
No point in arguing. “Okay.”  
  
Jess went back to sleep, and Sharky just kinda basked in the fact that she hadn’t called him a dumbass once in that entire conversation.  
  
Progress was progress.  
   
-End


End file.
